Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Thursday she is focusing her attention on Democrats wrestling back control of the House in 2026, but stopped short of saying whether she would be included in that group of lawmakers.

Pelosi, who has been in office since 1987, did not say whether she plans to run for reelection in 2026 but told reporters she’d be “able to tell you how many seats we’re going to win” that November. 

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“That’ll be a year before the election, that will be the time we see who runs … and who decides to step aside,” she said. 

Pelosi, should she decide to run, already has a Democratic challenger teed up to go against her. Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who joined Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) 2016 presidential campaign, is vying for Pelosi’s seat and actively canvassing in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Whether she’s in the running or not, Pelosi said she expects an “A-Team” of Democratic candidates ready to take on President Donald Trump and the GOP, saying a plan will soon fall into place.

The strategy will be like the one Democrats used in 2018, when they harnessed the power of anti-Trump sentiment to pick up 40 seats and win back the House, she said. 

“We’ll do something similar this time,” Pelosi added. “That has been my focus is to win the House for the Democrats, for the American people, to reverse what they are doing to our Medicare, Medicaid — even threatening food that children eat — we want to make sure people know, and when we are running our campaigns, it is about what we see as a contrast between the president’s administration and the House and congressional Democrats.”

Pelosi, who was at a local VA as part of House Democrats’ “Honor Our Veterans Day of Action” event, declined to weigh in on New York’s mayoral race or endorse Democratic primary winner Zohran Mamdani. 

Mamdani beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, widely considered the favorite, in the June Democratic primary. Corporate leaders, centrist Democrats, and Republicans have expressed concern about Mamdani’s progressive policy platform. Despite his loss, Cuomo is still running as an independent.

Pelosi endorsed Cuomo for governor in 2018. Three years later, he resigned over a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. It was an extraordinary fall from grace after he had been hailed nationally for holding detailed daily briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Pelosi told reporters that she had previously congratulated Mamdani on his victory, but said she doesn’t know him “at all.” 

Separately, Pelosi will be meeting with Texas Democrats who are breaking quorum to avoid voting on redrawing congressional maps in their home state. The lawmakers will be in Sacramento on Friday with Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and other Democratic state lawmakers.

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They will discuss California’s redistricting plan, which is a response to Trump’s demands that Texas carve up its map to give Republicans five more congressional seats ahead of next year’s elections. 

Texas lawmakers haven’t been able to vote on redrawing districts because Texas Democrats fled the state, first to Illinois and now to California.